Nice to see even an enormous company like Paramount can treat criticism with good humour (while also basically saying people should just deal with it).
I've made a TT druid, core rules only, and as she leveled up, she had to go the route of weird and wacky animals. Lemme see...
Cave bear, Sabretooth, Giant scorpion and Killer whale - and now Water elemental.
Owlbear is better than Sabretooth, although doesn't have the stealth nor the at-will 20' jump. But no better than the scorpion, certainly doesn't have the control. Killer whale is obviously most powerful but waterbound.
Getting it at level 6 is about right. By memory it's possibly a level early, but that's quibbling. It's little more than a bear upgrade and regardless, gets overshadowed later by any elemental form.
Lorewise, the 1E MM speculated whether the owlbear was chimera or beast. I guess they've decided despite its monstrous origins, it's become a stable enough creature within nature.
Nice to see even an enormous company like Paramount can treat criticism with good humour (while also basically saying people should just deal with it).
Does D&D One have druid class released? Will druids be able to turn into an Owlbear there?
It does, and no you can't, but that's only because the onednd druid doesn't actually turn into beast/monster shapes by statblock, they get their own wildshape statblocks with flexible statistics, but you can just flavour it as appearing however you want. So you wildshape into your Animal of the Land form, and flavour it to look like an owlbear.
They've tried that approach (generic forms) many times and it's always dreadful, won't be any different this time. Players want to actually transform into specific beast. Generic forms are balanced, practical, but don't scratch that itch.
Yes, I know it means extra pages of stat-blocks appended to your character sheet. Thems the breaks.
Hardcore DMs require druids to meet the animals in nature first before Druids can wildshape (or Polymorph) into them. This serves two purposes, 1) keep beasts mysterious before discovery, and 2) make finding new beasts part of the exploration game.
They've tried that approach (generic forms) many times and it's always dreadful, won't be any different this time. Players want to actually transform into specific beast. Generic forms are balanced, practical, but don't scratch that itch.
Yes, I know it means extra pages of stat-blocks appended to your character sheet. Thems the breaks.
That's pretty much exactly what most of the criticism regarding the wildshape changes is saying. It's the innate abilities that actually give monsters their flavour and variety that people want, not just a generic blob. They've misjudged what people want out of wildshape, and how it's used by non-moon druids.
For the record, the survey for feedback for One D&D relating to druids and the rest of the current round, is up currently, and will close on the 10th, so, if you don't want a wildshape that uses your own hit points, is a formless blob, and doesn't let you benefit from the abilities or strengths of unusual creatures OR the higher ability scores they come with... then be sure to fill out the survey and say so.
Some more info on owlbear Wild Shape abilities from our latest Twitter post, in case you missed it!
Rupture: Crack the Earth, causing debris to tear through nearby objects and creatures. Great for crowd control! Enrage: For 3 turns, increase your strength by 2. Has a chance to make nearby creatures fearful!
No hate for owlbear!!!
